Bradford 3 Aston Villa 1

BRADFORD forward Nahki Wells conceded his side are now favourites to reach the Capital One Cup final after their semi-final first-leg win over Aston Villa, but would prefer it if they remained as the underdogs.

BRADFORD forward Nahki Wells conceded his side are now favourites to reach the Capital One Cup final after their semi-final first-leg win over Aston Villa, but would prefer it if they remained as the underdogs.

Wells scored the first goal as City won 3-1 to produce another memorable cup result – the League Two side beat Arsenal in the quarter-finals – and will head to Villa Park for the second leg in the box set.

Bermudan Wells knows they will now be expected to finish the job and hopes they can do just that.

“We may well be the favourites now, but we want to be the underdogs,” he said.

“To get this far is great, but we now want to make sure we get through.

“We showed our quality and that we can compete with Premier League teams. We were resilient, it was a tough match and we showed what we are capable of. To have a two-goal cushion is great.

“We would have taken a draw, but 2-1, 3-1 is amazing. It’s a good deficit to take with us to the away tie.”

Rory McArdle made it two after Wells’ opener, but Villa looked to have made a game of it when Andreas Weimann made it 2-1.

Carl McHugh had other ideas, though, with his late header putting Bradford into dreamland.

“It shows the team spirit we have,” said goalkeeper Matt Duke.

“We’ve all put a shift in, credit to the boys in front of me, we caused them problems, scored three goals and we can go to Villa Park with a lead.

“We are playing a class team and we need to be on our game.

“It’s a cliche, but it’s half a job and we have a bigger task ahead.”

Manager Phil Parkinson had said beforehand he would have taken a draw, but was left knowing that his side are on the brink of what would be a quite sensational final appearance.

“To score three against a Premier team is an outstanding achievement,” he said.

“We played so well. They had an attacking line-up and left space, so we passed it well. They had chances, but so did we. All round, the lads were magnificent.

“But let’s not get carried away, we will be respectful and go to Villa Park and do it all again.”

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